PM's aide calls Maryam 'biggest liar and fraudster'

Gill claims footage of Safdar’s arrest was recorded by his cameraman

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD/ HYDERABAD/ LAHORE:

The government representatives on Saturday lashed out at the opposition parties saying that they were seeking an NRO-like deal from the prime minister and had been resorting to different tactics such as the arrest of Captain (retired) Mohammad Safdar to pressurise the current regime.

They further reiterated that the PTI would leave no stone unturned to take the looters and plunderers of nation’s wealth to task and would complete its five-year tenure.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill claimed that the entire footage of Captain (retd) Safdar’s arrest was recorded by the PML-N leader’s cameraman.

He said the Indian media took advantage of the situation and ran the news of civil war in Karachi.

The SAPM said first the footage of arrest was sent to London and then it was showed on media in Pakistan.

“He (Safdar) asked his cameraman to record the footage and then told him to viral it. The cameraman recorded (Safdar’s) footage from the room till outside,” he said.

“The cameraman had focused the police officer and Safdar from every angle,” he added.

He termed the arrest a drama orchestrated by the opposition parties to strike a deal with the PTI-led government.

Safdar — the son-in-law of former premier Nawaz Sharif — was arrested from the hotel’s room of his wife Maryam Nawaz in Karachi on Monday morning for allegedly disrespecting the mausoleum of the Founder of the Nation, only to be released by a court hours later.

Gill said that the high-ups of the Sindh police decided to go on leave in protest after PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari held a meeting with Sindh IGP Mushtaq Mehar.

“Then leaders in opposition asked the army chief, ISI chief and others to hold inquiry into the matter,” he noted.

The PM’s aide said for the last 40 years the Bhutto and Sharif families had been telling lies to the nation and spreading falsehood.

“Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Safdar are involved in corruption and they wanted people to accept their lies,” he said.

“Maryam Safdar – ‘a certified liar and fraudster’ – lies all the time.”

Gill said the apex court in its verdict said that Maryam had submitted fake documents in the court.

“Maryam Safdar is creating narrative against the state institutions,” he maintained.

Sharing similar views, Minister for Information Shibli Faraz said that morally corrupt and absconders could not be the flag bearers of democracy and leaders of the nation.

In a tweet from his official Twitter handle, he said Maryam Nawaz was filled with anger and was confused.

Faraz said that PM Imran had awakened the nation against the corrupt mafia and he would not back down from his struggle against corruption.

اخلاقی دیوالیہ پن کے شکار قانون کے مفرور جمہوریت کے علمبردار اور قوم کی رہنمائی کے اہل نہیں ہو سکتے۔مریم نواز غصے سے بھری اور بوکھلاہٹ کا شکار ہیں۔عمران خان نےکرپٹ ٹولے کے خلاف قوم کو جگایا، کرپشن کے خلاف جدوجہد سے پیچھے نہیں ہٹیں گے۔

— Senator Shibli Faraz (@shiblifaraz) October 24, 2020

Minister for Planning Asad Umar noted that the opposition was “unnecessarily” protesting over the arrest of Captain (retired) Safdar Awan and maintained that the PML-N leader had violated the sanctity of Quaid’s mausoleum and resorted to hooliganism there.

“When the chief minister [Sindh] and IG themselves did not say that he [IG] was kidnapped then what are they protesting over?” he asked.

“Captain Safdar is not a political bigwig that he was arrested in such a manner,” he added.

Umar made these remarks while talking to local leaders during his one-day visit to Hyderabad.

He claimed that people of Karachi had rejected PDM’s rally in the metropolis and maintained that the PTI would have held a big public gathering with MQM in Karachi had there been no threat of the coronavirus.

Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said that the purpose of opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement was to seek an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance-like relief) from the government and get their cases settled.

“Sometimes they [opposition] stage a drama of IG’s abduction and [senior police officials going on] leaves while on the other, they do something else,” he said while speaking to media in Lahore.

“The PDM is adversely affecting the economy,” he added.

Fawad rubbished the opposition’s stance that the incumbent regime would be sent packing and reiterated that the government would complete its tenure.

He pointed out that after the courts’ decision, Nawaz Sharif had no legal status in the United Kingdom and added that the former premier would return to Pakistan before January 15.

He asked Sharif and other opposition leaders to sign a plea bargain and return the nation’s wealth and then live wherever they want.

Minister for Interior Ijaz Shah also emphasised that the government would fulfill its promise of bringing an end to corruption and holding indiscriminate and transparent accountability in the country.

Shah expressed these views in a meeting with Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar in Lahore.

He vowed that the PTI during its five-year tenure would ensure the rule of law in the country.

The Punjab governor maintained that the opposition’s public gatherings would make no difference and added that the current regime would complete its term.

“[We] Will not let the opposition succeed in their politics of violence and lawlessness,” he said.

“Imran Khan as prime minister and the government will complete their constitutional tenure and the general election will be held in 2023,” he added.

Sarwar stressed that there would be no leniency in dealing with the corrupt elements saying that PM Imran had never compromised on principles.

Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan also hit hard at the opposition and termed the PDM a “group of dishonest people”.

Addressing the media in Rawalpindi, he said the opposition through the PDM was trying to create a divide in the country.

He said Sharif had brought disrespect to the PML-N and urged the people not to fall victim to opposition’s tactics and stay away from them.